A new film which documents the crazy hours junior doctors
have to work in South Africa gives the public a glimpse into the gruelling
pressures more than 5,000 junior South African doctors have to face every day.
South African-born Francois Wahl, a chartered accountant
with a passion for filmmaking, directed and produced the much anticipated film,
Doc-U-Mentally – last doctors standing,
which he believes is an apt title since, “junior doctors must be insane to work
under the conditions they do,” he says.
Set mainly at Ngwelezane Hospital in Empangeni
(KwaZulu-Natal), the movie is not for the faint-hearted and shows real-life
scenes of stab-wounds, gashes that must be sown up, near-drownings, and
everything in between that junior doctors need to deal with during a regular
shift.
It features Dr Saishrien Rasen in the surgery unit, Dr
Yenziwe Ngema in orthopaedics, Dr Wanele Ganya in paediatrics, Dr Amy Salvesen
in emergency medicines and Dr Lourens Wahl in casualty.
“I was inspired to
tell the story after experiencing almost first-hand what these young doctors go
through. My father, wife, brother and many of my friends are in the healthcare
profession and let me tell you, the effects of sleep deprivation and the
hostile environment they have to work in have damaging repercussions – and it’s
this that I wanted to bring home to the viewer,” says Wahl.
“The film shows five different doctors from vastly diverse
backgrounds, during five different calls, with very little director’s influence
from my side as I wanted to produce an unadulterated film, showing things the
way they truly are. The main focus was to show the race against time for these
doctors and how working 30 hour shifts impacts their mood, performance, stress
and anxiety levels and personal safety,” he adds.
Their participation in the film was motivated by both a
professional and personal responsibility in order to lead the change in
especially working hours, but to also shed light on the psychology behind the
plight of junior doctors, and to bring to the fore other issues that too need to
be addressed, such as the shortage of medical personnel and the HIV dangers
they face.
The documentary also drew the interest of Pharma Dynamics,
one of SA’s leading generic pharmaceutical firms, who along with the support
from the SA Medical Association (SAMA), KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission and funds
raised by fellow doctors via a crowdfunding campaign, made the documentary a
reality.
The 82-minute film has also been entered into several
international film festivals, including the Public Health Film Festival in the
UK and the Denver Film Festival in the USA.
For a sneak preview, go to https://vimeo.com/180480648
to watch the trailer.
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